Cowboys and the Indian Girl

So this Football season, I have been a faithful fan.  This is the first year where I have seen more than just the superbowl game. And I can blame all this on the Cowboys. Who knew, I could be such a football fan at heart.

First of all nobody in my family calls it football, its always American football to distinguish it from Soccer aka “Real” football. Also my father was a soccer player and I think he would suffer tremendously if he knew that I had crossed over to the darkside of “fake” football. Secondly, I have never really been an athletic type. I never liked to watch sports let alone play any, nor did I care. Thirdly, I am a girly girl at heart, I love hiking and climbing trees and getting diry and all that but organized sports is a very male concept- at least in my mind. And finally, my very male significant other is not very much into sports either. He is the typical geek who likes science and technology and likes baseball and occasionally follows baseball( okay, only the world series). So I didn’t have husbandly pressure either, in fact J is rather surprised that I now know more stats on the Cowboys and watch more games. So,  I really did not see sports fan dom in my horizon at all. It seemed so American, so male, so other!

I became a football fant , when I was bored one sunday afternoon in september and while channel surfing, I happened to catch some of the Bears and Cowboys game. It wasn’t a particularly great game, but I was completely awed by the awesomeness that is the Cowboys and a fan was born. People who know me are extremely surprised because I really, truly don’t care about sports and I never have.  I guess, I’ll just have to wait and see, if its a passing fad or something that lasts long term. I

Tonight is the much hyped game of Cowboys v Packers and I am going to attempt to watch it if I can ever finish my Music paper. But if you have some cold beer, lots of delicious snacks and 3 hours to kill, then I expect you to be doing one thing and one thing only…rooting for the Cowboys!

Hey if they can get an Indian chick to root for them, they must be doing something right!

In the Land of Finals

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I can no longer deny my looming finals. I leave for Kolkata on the 15 of Dec and I have a major presentation on the 14th. So even though going to India right after finals should motivate me, its actually serving as a distraction.

Really, thinking about wedding sarees and menus and shopping for presents is so much more fun than thinking about power point and papers.

Because J and I wanted to be really productive and thrifty for the following weeks we decide to start it off with a fridge full of food to avoid eating out during the week. I made shepherds pie, which turned out really well.

Ofcourse that only worked for two days and we were back to our old ways of eating out! It is so hard to be good.

Fall in Duke Gardens

On saturday J and I took Layla to Duke Gardens for a walk. Fall was everywhere and it was so beautiful that I had to take a few pictures.

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The Laylster’s face as she stares at a bird who is taunting her.

Everything in Excess

Thanksgiving is one of the few days that its absolutely okay to be as indulgent as possible. In fact, at Thanksgiving dinner, after I gave thanks, I raised a toast “To excess.” I know , I know, excess isn’t really a positive value , but every once in a while , I think it is absolutely okay to be indulgent, especially in our current day culture of all pervasive guilt. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the guilt actually stops anyone from bad behavior- we still consume too much, waste too much, want too much, dirty up too many dishes, have too much clutter, etc, etc. And most of the time, I really do try to be a better human being and I feel guilty about all the ways my existence is damaging the planet and corrupting society and bloating our society but it is nice to have a day to indulge without the guilt. Really, isn’t that the spirit of Thanksgiving – to thank the world for its shower of bounty and all things good in life. So, that is exactly what I did on thanksgiving- ate too much, drank too much, used too many ingredients in my recipes, simply because I could and most of all, I had too much fun.

J stuffing mushrooms, while giving “Layla’s pathetic face”

Anyway, that was my rant and onto the fun stuff. For Thanksgiving this year, J and I spent the morning and afternoon cooking up our contributions to our Potluck thanksgiving dinner. We had decided on a non traditional thanksgiving menu so my contributions were.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms>>>>>Recipe

Green Beans with coconut>>>>> Recipe

Smashed Eggplant w/ Malaysian Roti ( Baigan Bharta)>>>>>>Recipe

Catfish in Yoghurt Sauce ( Doi Maach) >>>>>> Recipe

Around 5:30 we headed over for dinner and started on our night of drinking. There was about 10 people and there were nearly 20 bottles of wine, which I am happy to say were all consumed by the end of the night. As for the food, there was Goat Cheese with Fig sauce, my mushrooms and Eggplant and spinach dip for appetizers. For our main entrees and side dishes we had Turkey with Mole Sauce, mashed potatoes, asparagus with pinenuts, brussel sprouts, green beans, mustard greens with Kielbasa, sweet potatoes and so many more dishes. For dessert, we had homemade sweet potato pie and chocolate pecan pie.

It was a great thanksgiving. 

Recipes

Giving Thanks

 

1. Envy, 2. bathroom brights, 3. D’oh!, 4. ICE-Train station, 5. 10k Green Gold Ring, 6. 58/365: LOVE MY FLICKR PEEPS!, 7. Pesto, 8. Eye of a needle, 9. Diet Coke

***These photos are not by me, I used Flickr favorites and then used MosaicMaker to make the graphic***

Now that Thanksgiving is just a few days away, I was thinking about the things I am thankful for. I did a fairly critical evaluation of my life in “ A little bit about Goldgirl” so I thought I’d give thanks today on the little things in my life.  

This year I am thankful for :

Diet Coke-  Nothing else can get me through the day quite like a Diet Coke

Seamstresses- I would have not had a wedding dress that fit, if it wasn’t for the alteration place in Southpoint mall

My Blog- I can obsess about everything I want on my terms and combine many different obsessions into one post. ex-list making with food. See “Here comes the Holidays”

Cuisineart Food processors- I just got a new one as a wedding present and my life was truly incomplete without it

My Grandma’s ring- It made me feel that a part of her was involved on my wedding day

Dresses- My closet would be empty w/out them. Okay, thats not true, my closet would never be empty. I have bought several this year and they have become my favorite new apparel

High heels- Platforms are back, Stillettos are in style, now if only those damned ballet flats would go out of style…hmmm. Diamonds may last forever, but heels are a short girls best friend

Soft New Towels- Especially in fun colors like Mango and Bahama ( orange and blue)

Trains, Planes and Automobiles- This year’s festivities were made possible because of all the travelling that took place.

The Simpsons- I could not have survived Sunday Night Blues without them. Also- Spider Pig….

My Hair- Its my one vanity. I love that I can grow it out easily and cut it off without regrets and it always makes me feel beautiful

And of course all the big things- Family, Friends, J , Layla and happiness for all, because without that everything else is immaterial.

Kolkata Landmarks

 I am getting so excited for Kolkata that I thought I would post some famous sights of Kolkata. I did not take these pics, please see the next post for a few that I have taken.

 

 Howrah Bridge on the Hoogly is probably the most iconic landmark of Kolkata, it connects the main city to the Howrah Railway Station, which is the equivalent of Grand Central in NY. Like London has the bridge on the Thames, and New York has the Brooklyn Bridge, Howrah Bridge has captured the imagination of the city and its visitors, making it a much beloved lifeline of the city. It is usually crowded, full of traffic, and sometimes takes a good 40 minutes to get across the river, but it is always bursting with life. Ever since I was a little girl and we would get down at Howrah Station, I looked forward to crossing that bridge. To me its a symbol of beginnngs and journeys and it always features prominently in my memories. Lately, since we fly into Kolkata, I rarely cross the bridge anymore, but this year I am determined to cross it at least once and relive the excitement.

This beautiful photo is from a Flickr set by MarkEveleigh

Victoria Memorial in the heart of Kolkata. This is a building that was dedicated to Queen Victoria, when she was declared queen of India, during the British Raj. Victoria Memorial is set in the Maidan or a planned huge greenspace in the middle of the city. It is sort of like Central Park and many events and fairs take place here. Its also  a great place for a stroll or some quiet time.

Photo- Google Images

Vidyasagar Setu or the second Howrah bridge was built in the 90’s to provide some relief to the Howrah Bridge. It is a very beautiful, modern bridge and worth driving along on. But it doesn’t quite hold the same appeal for me.

Photo- google images

Writers Building is the main government seat of Kolkata. It is building that was originally constructed by the British in the 1700’s and has today become a symbol of Kolkata’s government. I love the bright red color of the building and the palm trees and statues around it.

Here comes the holidays!

Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays ever! This year we are going to a pot luck at our friend DS’s house and we are required to bring one dish and one bottle of wine per person, so 2 dishes and 2 bottles of wine for me and J . But I’m in a cooking mood, so I’m thinking I’ll actually make a few things.

So far, my menu ideas are

Stuffed mushrooms- appetizer

Shepherd’s pie- entree

green bean casserole – side

or

green beans with coconut-side

I might also make some sort of potato dish. Also, I feel like I might cook a bigger meal later into the holiday week, b/c J wants thanksgiving turkey leftovers, so it might be fun to have a random big meal a few days after thanksgiving.

In other news, I am leaving for India in less than 3 weeks and my Mom has already left to get things ready for the weekend. I am starting to get really excited.

Some new friends from the world of Vintage books

Now that round one of wedding days are over and round two hasn’t consumed me yet, I had a little bit of time to catch up wit my good friends….my old books. Last week , I bought a used book called Emily of New Moon. Emily of New Moon is a written by Lucy Maud Montgomery who is famous for writing the Anne of Green Gables Series.  Anne of Green Gables was one of the defining books of my childhood. I used to read that book over and over again and pretend that I was Anne Shirley living in Prince Edward Island. Anne of Green Gables is a must read for anyone who is interested in life in North America during the turn of the century. The book has wonderful details about schoolhouses, types of fashion popular among adolescents and of course it is a great story.

Anyway, Emily of New Moon is also a series set in Prince Edward Island and I am so glad , I started this series. I don’t think it is going to be as dear to me as Anne of Green Gables was , but it was still really fun to read.

Plot Synopsis:

Emily is a 11 year old girl who loses her father to consumption and has to go stay with her two estranged aunts in Prince Edward Island. The setting is right after the WW I and New Moon Farm is in a tiny little village. In  the novel, Emily is imaginative child who is whimsical and wants to be a poetess and has a hard time adjusting with her aunts who are very sensible and do not know how to interact with children. However Emily also makes some friend and has some wonderful adventures on the farm like, solving a old mystery, learning more about her family and herself and becoming a better writer.

I will probably re read my old faves the Anne of Green Gables series soon and write a synopsis on that soon and I plan to finish the Emily series as well.

The best part about these books is that they are a part of public domain and can be downloaded and read for free!!! One site for reading them is Project Gutenberg 

Whats New? ….All caught up with blogging

October was a weird month for me where I have been so busy that I have sort of neglected this blog. This gets rectified, starting now with some photos and highlights

 

1)J and I bought a brand new 42 inch HD LCD TV with our wedding money. We also bought a new entertainment center to show it off. This has resulted in us having a really nice living room which we love.

2) We had a 15 hour party. We met up with Y&DS, J and F  and some other people and went to brunch one Saturday morning to the Watts Grocery Store. We then went on a tour of Triangle Brewing company, the newest brewery in Durham. They gave us free beer before and after the tour and it was a really fun party in this loft space. After the tour we headed back to DS and Y’s house and hung around making cocktails with the wedding present DS and Y got us. It was a set of bar tools, home made bitters, a cocktail recipe book that DS wrote just for us and many little hard to find accessories for our bar. Afterwards we shifted the party to our house so  we could watch the World series game. Needless to say that lasted well into the night and I think we finally halted the festivities around 2 in the morning.

Prizes lined up at a booth

A storm coming in

3) J and I went to the State fair with my work people. We saw the pig races during which the ducks and goats also raced. We ate tons of fair food like giant mozzarella sticks, fresh cut fries, frozen cheesecake etc.

Fair Food * pic by J

 

J and his frozen cheesecake                           My funnel cake with Chocolate sauce

Signs at the fair

One of my fave photos that I have taken in a while.

 

 

Halloween

 

J and I had a very mellow Halloween this year, this being the first year we didn’t go to Franklin street with friends. I think the main reason was that I had a night class on Wednesday and didn’t even make it home till 9 pm. So instead we dressed up in some half assed costumes and went off bar hopping in downtown durham. I dressed up as Agneatha from the 70’s group Abba and J was a Safari Guide. We first hit the Joyce, which was completely dead and then we went to a bar on 9^th street called the Dain Bar. That place was pretty rocking and we ran into some friends who had had the same idea as us. Overall, it was a nice, mellow Halloween.

 

I had also made some Halloween crafts earlier this month, so here’s a picture of them.